1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the performance of context checks during execution of processes. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for evaluating a user""s context, wherein the context checks performed can be modified without affecting the application that uses the context check results.
This application contains an appendix consisting of a computer program listing of more than 300 lines. The computer listing is provided on a single CD-R and is accompanied by a duplicate copy (two CD-R in total). The material contained on the CD-R is hereby incorporated herein by reference and consists of one file, titled xe2x80x9cAppendix Axe2x80x9d, created on May. 28, 2002, and comprising 177,090 bytes.
2. Art Background
As the use of computer systems have become more widespread, the need to provide application software that is flexible to operate on a variety of systems and within different computing environments has increased. Typically it is the responsibility of the software application to determine the operating environment in order to execute properly without the user providing details regarding the system or the operating environment.
The environment or context of the environment dictates certain functions, such as, for example, whether the display is color or monochrome, the resolution of the display, the operating system executing and features of the operating system such as the memory configuration and the like. It is readily apparent that the need for performing context checks in an automated manner applies to a variety of applications, such as the user interface of the system.
In order for applications to be adaptable to a variety of computers or configurations of computers, it is necessary to perform context checks during execution of these applications. As is done in the prior art, however, the application includes code to perform the necessary context checks and then executes functions in accordance with the results of those context checks. However, if the operating environment changes and additional or different context checks are required, the author of the code must revise the code in order to accommodate those changes. This can be quite cumbersome and inefficient.
A system and method for performing context checks of system and user environment is disclosed. The context checking mechanism is a general purpose mechanism for performing context checks of the computing environment. Context modules are maintained and loaded into the context mechanism referred to as the context manager. The context manager registers these context modules and through execution of the modules performs context checks when needed or determined by the occurrence of a specific user action, such as movement of the mouse or the like. Memory is allocated to hold results of context checks and these context check results are stored in memory until requested by an application or process. The context manager then provides the results to the application. As the number of modules that is associated with any application is virtually limitless, a variety of context checks can be performed and easily modified without modification of the actual application or operating environment. This feature is particularly beneficial for adapting to upgraded or new environments as they are created.